Chris, so sorry for the delay in responding. I'm new to Google groups overall (yes, welcome to the 21st century, eh??) Lurking around today helped me see that my intro was posted, etc. so that I could begin to contribute.
Never intended to be rude with this, please forgive me. I've responded today to a couple of marketing questions, sales tax and the reservation system too. Yep - executive suites can be seriously overpriced and shut out many start-ups. The model can be more isolating rather than inclusive. I'm excited about the opportunities with this new wave of space solution. I'm still working on a plan and hope to have something going later this year, so taking on ownership... wish me luck. When I travel N. America, I am generally working with people who already have spec'd out land or a building where they want to set up the entity. Sublease/license agreement in this case is the model - but I want to be clear that the size of the space was 12,000 s.f. or more - not the model of coworking spaces. I started as a center manager in 1992 and have seen a TON of changes. (we used to make huge revenues from fax services.... yeah, poof! gone since '97) Services went from a la carte to bundling - that is what I recommend now and what seems most appropriate in coworking. In the exec. suite model, I recommend break even at no higher than 32% vacancy - again, when you have 12,000 s.f. and the "virtual office" concept is a relatively minor focus, you need to rely heavily on filling/renting "space" vs. enrolling members in "hours". That figure would be a low vacancy for coworking. Using the membership model in coworking allows you to be at 50% "vacancy" or more once you're well established, and achieve break-even in a smaller footprint of space. Nuts to crack - What I have had to get my head around is the difference between selling real estate "inventory" and filling membership "hours". I think in this economy, the coworking opportunity will explode - yes, NYC is way ahead of us. (but Chicago doesn't see such dramatic market fluctuations) FYI specific to the Chicago market: there is a brand new executive suite opening in April in the Sears Tower, 84th floor (folks from NY) and a high-end suite in Block 37 (22 W. Washington) above the CBS2 Studios. I think the timing is a challenge based on the economy. I still hope for the best for them. Ask away, I'm happy to share Wendy S. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
